Creative Team Revealed for Transforma Theatre's BIOADAPTED at CultureLab LIC

Transforma Theatre has announced the creative and technical team for their World Premiere of BIOADAPTED, an interactive science-enhanced experience at CultureLab LIC (5-25 46th Ave, Queens, NY 11101), September 9-24. This production will be an unprecedented collaboration between theatre artists and Heidi Boisvert, a scientist who is currently developing the first media genome: an open-source biometric lab and AI system to isolate the narrative ingredients that move us to act, to create a unique tech invention for theatre performance and further the conversation around ethical AI usage. An EEG headset will generate BCI (brain-computer-interface) instructions for the movement of an actor linked with a haptic vest. In the grand finale the audience will put GPT-4 on trial and interrogate it directly in real time.

The production, created and directed by Tjaša Ferme (The Female Role Model Project at 3LD/Edinburgh Fringe), is written by James Yu (creator of Sudowrite, the AI tool for creative writers), Alexis Roblan (Red Emma & The Mad Monk at The Tank), and Ferme with transcripts of real conversations and interviews with scientists including MIT fellow and TED speaker Heidi Boisvert, renowned neuroscientist Moran Cerf, whistleblower Blake Lamoine, and more.

The prototype engineering team will be spearheaded by Technical and Innovation Director Heidi Boisvert (Theater of the Mind with David Byrne at Denver Center for the Performing Arts; Assistant Professor of AI and the Arts: Immersive Performance Technologies at the University of the Florida) along with Chinese Multimedia Artist Jingyao Shao (Ammerman Center Biennial Symposium on Arts & Technology; Turn Up Multimedia Festival) as Assistant of Innovation. The design team will include Lighting Design by Nicole E. Lang (Richard II & Henry IV Workshop with Theatre for a New Audience; Hanging with Clarence at Park Avenue Armory), Set Design by Oliver Zeller (stage visuals for Madonna's Reinvention Tour; Art Director on Netflix's The Woman in the Window), Costume Design by C. Alex Webster (Yellow, Asheville Fringe Arts Festival), Projections Design by Jeremy Bennett (Show Way with The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences), and Sound Design by Liam Bellman-Sharpe (Elon Musk and the Plan to Blow Up Mars with Yale Cabaret). The Production Stage Manager will be Gaby Garcia (Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical with Playhouse 46 at St. Luke’s) with Assistant Director Nasay Ano (NYIT Award nominee for Best Newcomer). 

BIOADAPTED is an interactive investigative documentary with actors portraying real people and scientists, paired with humorous and eerie fictional pieces about what our future might look like if the AI propagates in unethical ways that don't serve humankind. AI regulations and their implementation in government systems concern all of us, and through Transforma Theatre’s process of blending art and science, BIOADAPTED will investigate, interrogate, and educate all while delivering a unique, interactive, science-enhanced experience using technology which will empower audiences to become active decision makers and alert citizens protecting their own agency and human sovereignty.

Performances will take place on Saturday, September 9 at 3pm, Saturday, September 9 at 7pm, Sunday, September 10 at 3pm, Sunday, September 10 at 7pm, Thursday, September 14 at 7:30pm, Friday, September 15 at 7:30pm, Saturday, September 16 at 3pm, Saturday, September 16 at 7pm, Sunday, September 17 at 3pm, Sunday, September 17 at 7pm, Thursday, September 21 at 9:30pm, Friday, September 22 at 9:30pm, Saturday, September 23 at 3pm, Saturday, September 23 at 7pm, Sunday, September 24 at 3pm, and Sunday, September 24 at 7pm. Tickets ($30 General; $23 Students/Seniors/Artists) are available for advance purchase at www.eventbrite.com/e/bioadapted-tickets-665763956917. The performance will run approximately 90 minutes, with no intermission. 

Heidi Boisvert (Technology Director) is an artist, scientist and creative technologist. Heidi is currently an MIT research affiliate and an Assistant Professor of AI and the Arts: Immersive Performance Technologies at the University of the Florida, College of the Arts, School of Theatre and Dance. She has previously been a TED Resident, and is currently developing the first media genome: an open-source biometric lab and AI system to isolate the narrative ingredients that move us to act. She is also a member of the New Inc’s 6th and & 7th cohort in the Creative Science track, and has been working with David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar on Theater of the Mind, an immersive theater piece for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, as a Technology Designer. IG: @hjboisvert

Jingyao Shao (BCI Assistant Developer)  is a Chinese new media artist based in Brooklyn, who speculates different dimensions of perceptions through installations, performances, and research. She holds a Master of Professional degree from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). She recently presented at Ammerman Center Biennial Symposium on Arts & Technology, Turn Up Multimedia Festival, and Currents New Media Festival, and her work has been supported by Wave Farm and NYSCA. She is a memory archiver, conscientiously examining in retrieval and morphosis of what has been left in the past, and planting it in new mediums through her practices. Her work is also influenced by her reflections and questions on culture and gender structures, both looking back on cultural nostalgia and forward to future bodies. www.jingyaoshao.com IG: @jingyaooo_s

Transforma Theatre is a part of the Culture Lab LIC Emergence Artist Residency program. A residency that offers space and time to realize performance based projects.

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